Jan Masaryk Stresses Czech-jewish Unity in Fight on Hitlerism

December 19, 1939

LONDON (Dec. 18)

Unity between Czechs and Jews in fighting Hitlerism was stressed by Jan Masaryk, former Czechoslovak Minister to Britain and son of the Republic’s first President, when he was presented with a Bible last night by the Federation of Czechoslovak Jews at a benefit concert for refugees in the Phoenix Theater.

“We are victims of a bloody and deceitful man for no crime except that we lived in an exposed part of Europe,” Masaryk said. “The Jews are his victims. They are sons and daughters of a proud race. I do not wish to return to my country unless the Jews return with me. Czechs and Jews, united, will confront this bloody, deceitful man. I will devote myself to everything my father left me and to your cause.”